Mafia, weapons of war for the clan: arrest of the carabinieri VIDEO

22 Maggio 2023, 07:02

3′ OF READING

CATANIA. The carabinieri blocked him in via Bolano while he was in the car and then they are went to his home, to execute a search order issued by the prosecutor’s office. He is a twenty-six year old with a history of San Cristoforo, who investigators believe belongs to the Cappello clan of Catania, the young man believed to be the custodian of a small arsenal.

He is accused of illegal possession of a weapon of war, weapons and ammunition, as well as recipe. According to what was reconstructed by the military, he was seen on the street and then blocked in his house and in his garage they found a small arsenal. It was above the bedroom wardrobe and inside a metal cabinet in the garage.

The list of weapons seized in San Cristoforo

The carabinieri found a twelve-gauge automatic pump-action shotgun, model “Mavericks – 88”. There was an assault machine gun, the so-called Kalashnikov, the AK47 cal. 7.62 X 39, of those used by guerrillas in South America. There were four pistols, including two “Smith & Wessons,” a 357 Magnum drum with abraded serial number and a .38, also with abraded serial number, then a Glock with two magazines and a 7.65 caliber. There were 246 good bullets for all the seized guns, a mask and a black wool balaclava.

Weapons and ammunition, well maintained and fully functional, have clearly been seized to be subsequently subjected, by the Ris of Messina, to checks to verify if they have ever been used in criminal acts.

The arrested person, at the disposal of the public prosecutor’s office, was taken to Piazza Lanza. The arrest was already validated. And he is part of the actions to contrast the military capabilities of the clans, carried out by the provincial command of the Catania carabinieri.

Arma data: in two years hundreds of weapons were discovered in the Catania area

In the space of two years, the military arrested or charged 63 people for arms trafficking. Since then, 73 pistols, 70 rifles, 5,000 rounds of ammunition and 37 explosive devices have been seized in the city, some of which are war devices with very high potential.

Among the most important activities, the seizures of three Kalashnikovs from Librino and a German machine gun CSA23. And again, the Slavic-made hand grenade found with a Kalashnikov in Monte Po, land of the Cappellos; the semi-automatic pistols in San Leone and San Giuseppe La Rena.

In San Cristoforo, the stronghold of the so-called Nizza clan, one of the most dangerous groups of the Santapaola Ercolano clan, and in via Cave di Villarà, last year 9 pistols, 2 Kalashnikovs, a nine-gauge rifle with silencer, and two homemade bombs with a high potential were seized. And last year a “Skorpion” machine pistol and over 400 cartridges were seized in Misterbianco.

The suppliers: the Mazzeis buy them from Slovakia

But where do these weapons come from? To this question, the military responds through what is emerged from their investigative activities. The investigations of the Arma would have allowed in recent years to ascertain how weapons, especially those of war, arrive in Sicily from the Slovak Republic. Here would have been documented interests by members of the Mazzei clan of Catania, attributable to Cosa Nostra.

The figure would be confirmed by the fact that the military, between 2014 and 2015, intercepted the transfer of about 60 parcels of weapons coming from that Republic. In addition, clandestine arms and ammunition trafficking has also been ascertained from the countries of the “Former Yugoslavia” and from other territories affected by warlike events. In this sense, Europol has highlighted the real risk that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could favor the trafficking of weapons of war directed towards our country.